World briefs 5/28/04

Soldiers, demonstrators clash in Lebanon

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Demonstrators set fire to the Labor Ministry on Thursday after Lebanese soldiers shot and killed five people and wounded 12 others during protests against the government's economic policies, security and hospital officials said. A civil defense firefighter also died in the hospital after being hit by gunfire in what was Lebanon's worst violence involving civilians in a decade.

Cuba, Mexico return ambassadors

GUADALAJARA, Mexico -- Cuba's foreign minister said his nation and Mexico agreed Thursday to return their respective ambassadors, an attempt to mend relations strained by accusations that the communist-run island was meddling in Mexico's affairs. At a news conference on the sidelines of an international summit here, Cuban Foreign Minister Felipe Perez Roque said his meeting earlier with Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Ernesto Derbez had gone well and that they had decided to restore the ambassadors to their post.

Northern Nigeria ends polio vaccine moratorium

KANO, Nigeria -- A predominantly Muslim northern state in Nigeria abandoned its moratorium on polio vaccinations, declaring that samples of newly imported vaccines were safe, a state spokesman said Thursday. The decision by the state of Kano would open the way for a massive nationwide immunization effort, said federal Health Minister Eyitayo Lambo. U.N. officials say the eight-month suspension of polio vaccines in Kano state allowed the disease to spread widely across Africa.

-- From wire reports